AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- Lavor Postell got his
wish, and the New York Knicks got a win.

Postell, a little-used reserve, scored a career-high 20 points
as the Knicks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 89-82
victory over the Detroit Pistons.

The second-year guard had complained after the team's home loss
to Denver on Monday that he wasn't getting enough playing time.

"Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston don't do anything that I
can't do," Postell had said. "The only difference is that they
play and I don't. All I need is an opportunity."

With Houston sitting out a second straight game with a sprained
left ankle, Postell got more minutes off the bench. He did not
play in the first quarter but scored 15 in the second --
surpassing his previous career high by five points.

After Corliss Williamson scored six straight points to give the
Pistons a 78-77 lead with 4 1/2 minutes to go, Travis Knight
hit a pair of free throws and Sprewell hit a 3-pointer to give
the Knicks a four-point lead with 3:05 to play.

Neither team could score for two minutes until Postell hit a
clutch 3-pointer from the left corner with 64 seconds left to
give the Knicks a seven-point edge. The Pistons got no closer
than five points in the final minute.

"The objective was just to go out there and get a win," Postell
said. "Hopefully when I do get minutes, I'll take advantage of
it like I did tonight. I made a statement in the paper and I
backed it up. That's in the past. That's a mistake, I
shouldn't have done that. This is a great group of guys. They
made fun of me (for the statement) but they still supported me."

"I'm just glad he was able to have a good game," Sprewell said.

"I don't know about putting that added pressure on yourself,
but if you strive in those situations, it's good." Kurt Thomas
had 18 points, Sprewell 17 and Mark Jackson 11 and 12 assists
for the Knicks, who improved to just 9-25 on the road this
season.

"We've had a lot of games like this where we were in position
to win and we haven't gotten the job done," Sprewell said.

"Tonight we were able to have some good execution down the
stretch and some good defensive stops. In past games, we
haven't had that."

Chucky Atkins and Jerry Stackhouse scored 18 points apiece but
both were held scoreless in the fourth quarter for Detroit,
which missed an opportunity to sweep New York for the first
time since 1990, when it won the second of back-to-back
championships.

"It was a disappointing game and a disappointing outcome,"

Pistons coach Rick Carlisle said. "I give credit to the
Knicks. I thought they played really hard and played with
great force. We just didn't match it at any point in the game."

Ben Wallace added 12 points, 20 rebounds and eight blocks for
the Pistons, who fell 3 1/2 games back of New Jersey for the
top playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

"The long road trip finally caught up with us but we can live
with it once," said Wallace, whose team had played six of its
previous seven games on the road, including a 19-point victory
at Indiana on Tuesday night. "We can't let it happen again."

"I thought we caught a tired team, but I liked the way some of
the guys played tonight," Knicks coach Don Chaney said. "I
thought they really hung in there on the road against a very
good team. It was obvious they were tired."

Neither team shot the ball well. New York made 42 percent of
its attempts (36-of-86) while Detroit connected on just 39
percent (29-of-75).

"We just went in the tank offensively," said Jon Barry, who had
just five points on 2-of-9 shooting. "We had shot after shot
and I missed some good looks. I think maybe we felt too good
about ourselves. We knew the Knicks were struggling and didn't
have Allan Houston, but that doesn't mean we could just put on
the uni(form) and beat them."

"We hung around and had some open shots but our effort just
wasn't where it needed to be to beat a team that was really
playing," Carlisle said. "It was a disappointing loss."

Detroit and New York both started the game shooting well. The
Pistons took a 31-27 lead after one quarter after sinking 58
percent of their attempts (11-of-19), while the Knicks sank 54
percent (13-of-24).

Postell netted the Knicks' final 11 points of the second
quarter as New York took a 52-48 lead into halftime.

After Wallace scored on a tip-in to give Detroit a 61-60 lead
with 4:16 left in the third quarter, New York closed the period
on an 11-2 run to take an eight-point advantage into the fourth
quarter.

Though the Knicks only attempted 15 free throws, they made 13
(87 percent). Postell was a perfect 6-of-6 from the line.

"It was nice to see him get solid minutes and it was nice to
see him perform offensively the way he did," Chaney said of
Postell. "We still feel with his athletic ability he could
become a much better defender and I think that will come if he
continues to work."